Feminist punk group Pussy Riot members, from left, Maria Alekhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova show the court's verdict as they sit in a glass cage at a courtroom in Moscow.Freed feminist punk group Pussy Riot member Yekaterina Samutsevich

A RUSSIAN court has ruled that video footage of the Pussy Riot punk group protesting against President Vladimir Putin in a church was "extremist" and it should be removed from websites.

The Moscow court said it had based its ruling on conclusions by a panel of experts who studied the footage, showing band members in colourful mini-skirts and ski masks dancing in front of the alter of Moscow's main Russian Orthodox cathedral.

Judge Marina Musimovich said the video “has elements of extremism, in particular there are words and actions which humiliate various social groups based on their religion”.

Two of the band members, Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, are serving a two-year jail sentence over the performance last February. A third member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, had her sentence suspended on appeal.

The protest angered many Russian Orthodox Christians but Putin has been criticised by U.S. and European leaders over sentences they regard as disproportionate.